Turn Up the Volume: November 2026 President’s Letter

Remember when we were all talking about quiet quitting? Doing exactly what your job description says and not one task more. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. Business Insider reports that with job-hopping harder and layoffs feeling like a constant threat, more employees are “loud working”: making sure their work is visible and noticed, in hopes of earning promotions and avoiding cuts. The article’s headline puts the mood bluntly: “It felt like the Hunger Games had started.”

Loud working is either smart self-advocacy or shameless self-promotion, depending on who you ask. I think it’s a little of both, and the difference is in how you do it. The fear behind the trend is real, but nobody should have to treat their career like an arena. The right way to do it doesn’t come from fear. It comes from clarity.

As communicators, we spend our days making other people’s work visible. The client’s launch. The executive’s keynote. The organization’s story. We’re very good at it. And then we go home and let our own work sit in the dark, because mentioning it feels like bragging. (Work is famously quiet. It rarely speaks for itself.)

In a recent letter here, I wrote that your output is not your worth, and I stand by that. But being seen is not the same as being measured. You can believe both. Your worth isn’t up for debate, and your work still deserves an audience.

So loud working doesn’t have to mean performing busy or blasting a win to the whole company. It can be a two-line Friday update to your boss. A Slack post with the results of your latest campaign. Saying “I led that” when someone asks who did it. A running list of your wins, so review season isn’t an archaeology project. That’s not noise. That’s clarity.

WCA is a great place to practice. Our events and Peer Mentor Program are low-stakes rooms to say what you’re proud of out loud, and to get help wording it from someone who’s been there.

So this month, pick one thing you’re proud of from this year and tell someone who has a say in your career. You don’t have to shout. You just can’t stay quiet.

Kerri Qunell
President, Women Communicators of Austin